This seems like an unacceptably long service disruption that would be a huge negative to the transit system, far outweighing the benefit of the one new stop. Headways are so long on the orange line anyway I don't know why a single track couldn't be kept live and suffice.

The only things I have heard is that they will be running nighttime and weekend bus shuttles while the Assembly Sq station is being constructed. This is like the process for wiring the north side of the Orange Line for ATO. There is a possibility of the third/test track being used for operation, taking the southbound out of service, in other words shifting. Nothing has been finalized since the IKEA project seems to be in a state of suspended animation or extreme slow-mo. A shuttle that massive will usually require it to start at the time of the next rating, middle/end of June, beginning of September and so on and as far as I can tell nothing is on the radar screen for the summer rating.

I ask out of interest, because I'm curious as to how the shuttle will work myself, not to challenge the integrity of your statement. I was just wondering if it was hearsay or if that was stated in an article or announcement somewhere.

dieciduej wrote:The only things I have heard is that they will be running nighttime and weekend bus shuttles while the Assembly Sq station is being constructed. This is like the process for wiring the north side of the Orange Line for ATO. There is a possibility of the third/test track being used for operation, taking the southbound out of service, in other words shifting. Nothing has been finalized since the IKEA project seems to be in a state of suspended animation or extreme slow-mo. A shuttle that massive will usually require it to start at the time of the next rating, middle/end of June, beginning of September and so on and as far as I can tell nothing is on the radar screen for the summer rating.

So the Assembly Square station was put out to bid in May, with responses due August 24th...any update on what's next? How many responses did they get?

dieciduej wrote:The only things I have heard is that they will be running nighttime and weekend bus shuttles while the Assembly Sq station is being constructed. This is like the process for wiring the north side of the Orange Line for ATO. There is a possibility of the third/test track being used for operation, taking the southbound out of service, in other words shifting. Nothing has been finalized since the IKEA project seems to be in a state of suspended animation or extreme slow-mo. A shuttle that massive will usually require it to start at the time of the next rating, middle/end of June, beginning of September and so on and as far as I can tell nothing is on the radar screen for the summer rating.

So the Assembly Square station was put out to bid in May, with responses due August 24th...any update on what's next? How many responses did they get?

BostonUrbEx wrote:Has S&R done work for the MBTA before (if so, what projects? so we can take a look at their quality)? I've not heard of them before.

I think that's the next step: starting at the bottom and knocking people off based on qualifications until they get to the lowest qualified bidder. Conti (at $46m) is clearly there just to make the other ones look good

"Trying to solve congestion by making roadways wider is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger pants."--Charles Marohn

You want to take a look at their quality? Drive down Rte 62 in North Reading. Curves are banked in the wrong direction, incorrect surveying of electric poles, sections of road in multiple places designed for a third turning lane were not built wide enough so they had to be repainted so it looks like you have one of Kramer's "executive lanes", huge swath of bumps in pavement only of which about a quarter was repaired by them, and the new bridge over the Ipswich River failed its concrete test on one side of the bridge twice before the Rep. Brad Jones placed a phone call, and it miraculously passed the next day. Over budget. Delay after delay.

Concerning work on the T, they're currently working on the stations on the Fairmont Line. They are the modern Modern Continental. It's sad they keep getting chosen and it's even sadder there is not quality requirement on these bids.

BostonUrbEx wrote:Has S&R done work for the MBTA before (if so, what projects? so we can take a look at their quality)? I've not heard of them before.

I think that's the next step: starting at the bottom and knocking people off based on qualifications until they get to the lowest qualified bidder. Conti (at $46m) is clearly there just to make the other ones look good

In this economy, I don't see how some of these contractors expected to get the job bidding more than the estimate, as it's based on today's average costs.

SM89 wrote:In this economy, I don't see how some of these contractors expected to get the job bidding more than the estimate, as it's based on today's average costs.

It makes me question the estimate. These are serious, hungry competitors looking to keep the machines busy. I think it is fairly telling that none but S&R felt they could bid under the estimate. What did they see in the work description that the MBTA didn't? Given S&R's bad highway work, I might pick someone at the $34m-ish mark and ask them to do some value engineering.

"Trying to solve congestion by making roadways wider is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger pants."--Charles Marohn

Why does this work block the use of the tracks? Can't they keep one track open at a time while they work on the other platform?

Also, does anyone know if this project is going to take away the express track (and as such any hope of a sensible modern express service to wakefield/reading)? The way the T does things, I'm guessing yes.

SM89 wrote:In this economy, I don't see how some of these contractors expected to get the job bidding more than the estimate, as it's based on today's average costs.

It makes me question the estimate. These are serious, hungry competitors looking to keep the machines busy. I think it is fairly telling that none but S&R felt they could bid under the estimate. What did they see in the work description that the MBTA didn't? Given S&R's bad highway work, I might pick someone at the $34m-ish mark and ask them to do some value engineering.